Well tubing mandrel with combination guard and guide

ABSTRACT

A mandrel for use in a well tubing has a body with a bore extending therethrough for alignment with the well tubing, a valve pocket is offset from the mandrel bore for receiving a valve or other tool therein, and guard means of a particular configuration are formed at the upper end of said pocket to restrict access thereto.

United States Patent 1191 M inn 1451 Apr. 9, 1974 1 WELL TUBING MANDREL WITH 2,679,904 6 1954 Howard et a1. 166/1175 x COMBINATION GUARD AND GUIDE 2,664,162 12/1953 Howard et al. 166/] 17.5 X

4/1958 Bryan 166/1175 x Primary Examiner-Werner H. Schroeder 5 7] ABSTRACT A mandrel for use in a well tubing has a body with a bore extending therethrough for alignment with the well tubing, 21 valve pocket is offset from the mandrel bore for receiving a valve or other tool therein, and guard means of a particular configuration are formed at the upper end of said pocket to restrict access thereto.

1 Claim, 3 Drawing Figures WELL TUBING MANDREL WITH COMBINATION GUARD AND GUIDE CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION The present invention discloses and claims a combination guard and guide for use in conjunction with my invention WELL TUBING MANDREL WITH GUARD AND ORIENTING SLEEVE" in my copending application bearing Ser. No. 230,781 and filed Mar. 1, I972, now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to retrievable mandrels and particularly to retrievable mandrels for receiving valves therein, which mandrels are provided for use in well tubing at spaced intervals therealong. The mandrels have a full opening bore extending therethrough for alignment with the well tubing to permit wireline tools to be run therethrough, or to permit tubing tools to be pumped therethrough.

The mandrel also includes a pocket offset from the mandrel bore to receive a retrievable valve or other flow control element.

A combination guard and guide of relatively simple configuration is provided at the upper end of the pocket and is constructed and arranged to permit devices of a desired or predetermined diameter to enter the side pocket. Other equipment either pumped or run on a wireline in the tubing will be restricted from access to the pocket by such guard, and the guard is constructed and arranged so that safety valves, fishing tools, and other similar equipment will not enter or hang up on the valve pocket or on the guard, but will be guided back into the main bore of the mandrel for movement through the tubing.

Also, the guard is constructed in a manner so that while accomplishing its function, it inhibits the collection of debris such as wax, paraffin, or other substances that may tend to settle from fluids in a tubing flow string from interfering with the normal operation of the guard.

The present invention is directed to a guard adapted to be employed with a side pocket mandrel to selectively restrict access to the side pocket.

The present invention also is directed to a guard construction which does not employ surfaces that might tend to collect debris such as wax, paraffin, or other substances entrained in liquid flow in a tubing, which collection of substances might otherwise interfere with the normal operation of the guard.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a guard at the upper end of a side pocket in a side pocket mandrel which does not present any sharp surfaces or ledges in the flow path'in the tubing, but which includes guide surfaces to guide tubing tools which might otherwise tend to enter the valve pocket back into the main of the mandrel for movement through the tubing and thus selectively restrict access to the valve pocket.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a plurality of side pockets in a well tubing stream having a combination guard and guide thereon of a predetermined diameter, with the guard in each valve pocket being substantially the same size.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following description and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a mandrel showing the main bore, offset valve pocket, and combination guard and guide at the upper end of the valve pocket;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the combination guard and guide.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Attention is first directed to FIG. 1 of the drawings wherein a mandrel represented generally at 20 is shown as including a body 21 having a bore 22 extending therethrough with threads 23 and 24 formed at each end of the body for connecting the mandrel into a tubing string. When the body 21 is connected in the tubing string (not shown), the bore 22 is aligned with the bore of the tubing string for receiving various tubing equipment therethrough such as safety valves, fishing tools, and the like, as well as gas lift valves and control valves to be seated within the mandrel 20.

The mandrel 20 includes a side pocket referred to generally at 25 which forms a receptacle for receiving a flow control valve or gas lift valve therein.

The tubing bore equipment inserted in the tubing string may be in some instances pumped down, or lowered on a wireline, and it is desirable that such equipment not enter the side pocket 25. It can be appreciated that where deviated holes are encountered, or due to other circumstances, such tubing equipment may move to the lateral offset portion of the mandrel away from the main bore 22 therethrough and tend to enter the valve pocket 25.

To overcome this, a combination guard and guide 26 is arranged at the upper end of the valve pocket 25 as shown in FIG. I to restrict access thereto so that only tools of a predetermined diameter will pass into the guard 26 and then be guided into the valve pocket 25 for seating therein. Where a plurality of mandrels are at spaced intervals in the tubing string, it is generally desirable that the guard 26 with each mandrel be of substantially the same diameter throughout the tubing string.

It will be noted that the valve pocket 25 is illustrated as being welded into the mandrel 22, but the mandrel 20 may be formed in any suitablemanner well known in the art. The guide pocket 26 is also illustrated as being welded adjacent the upper end of the valve pocket 25, and in FIG. 3, the configuration of the guard 26 is more clearly illustrated.

It can be seen that the body of the guard is of a generally semicircular shape, the portion 28 of which forms a wall of the mandrel 20 as illustrated in FIG. I. The upper end of the guard is provided with a particular interior surface configuration including a pair of surfaces, one of which is referred to at 30, and the other at 30a. The surfaces 30 and 30a are formed by sloping the sides of the semicircular body member from the upper end of the body member as illustrated at 31 and 32, such sloping configuration extending downwardly and inwardly towards the center of wall portion 28 as represented by the lines 33 and 34. The sides of the semicircular body extend toward the opening body bore as shown in the drawings to define the front of the combination guard and guide. It will be noted that the outer edges 35 and 36 of the semicircular member 28 extend at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the body for a portion of the wall thickness of member 28 and then slope inwardly from their respective inner edges the remainder of the wall thickness of member 28 as illustrated at 35a and 36a in FIG. 3 of the drawings. The sloping surfaces 35a and 36a intersect the sloping surfaces 30 and 30a, respectively, at the upper or forward end of the body and then extend continuously throughout the body as shown. The intersection of the surface 35a and 30 is represented by the line 30b and the intersection of surfaces 30a and 36a is represented by the line 30c. Since surfaces 35a and 30 both are sloping, the line 30b is at an angle relative to the longitudinal axis of the body, as is line 30c.

In FIG. 2, the sloping surfaces 30 and 30a are again illustrated in end view, as are surfaces 35a and 36a. The intersection of surfaces 35a and 30 is again represented at 30b, and the intersection of surfaces 36a and 30a at 30c.

FIG. 2 shows that surfaces 30 and 30a extend inwardly toward and blend into wall 28 adjacent the center of wall portion 28 at the forward or upper end of guide 26.

It can be appreciated that the arrangement and configuration of the surfaces 30, 30a, 35a, and 36a is such that no sharp ledges or edges are provided in the guard which form a suitable collecting surface for paraffin, wax, or other debris flowing through the tubing and the bore 22 of the mandrel. On the other hand, the arrangement of the surfaces 30 and 30a is such that a device of only a predetermined diameter will be permitted to enter the valve pocket 25 immediately beneath the guard 26.

Thus, when tubing equipment is either pumped or lowered into the tubing string on a wireline, it will be deflected from entering the valve pocket 25 should it move laterally of the bore 22 extending through the mandrel 20. However, the diameter of the guard 26 is such that when it is desired to insert a tool in the pocket 25, such may be accomplished without any problem since the guard 26 will permit such predetermined, sized device to be received within the pocket 25.

From the foregoing description, it can be appreciated that an arrangement is provided which restricts access to the pocket 25 on the one hand, but which does not provide any surfaces that might tend to collect debris so as to interfere with the proper functioning of such guard surface.

The surfaces 30 and 30a will deflect tools and equipment of undesired size from the valve pocket 25 and urge them onto surfaces 35a and 36a to enable such tools to move back towards bore 22 and into the tubing string. However, when a valve or other device of predetermined diameter for insertion in valve pocket 25 engages the combination guide and guard 26, it will guide such device into the pocket 25.

The foregoing disclosure and description of the invention are illustrative and explanatory thereof, and various changes in the size, shape, and materials as well as in the details of the illustrated construction may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In a mandrel for use in a well tubing including:

a. a body having an open bore extending therethrough for alignment with the well tubing;

b. a valve receptacle formed in said mandrel body and offset from the open bore of said body;

0. combination guard and guide means formed at the upper end of said valve receptacle and offset from the open bore of said body, said combination guard and guide including:

1. a body of generally semicircular shape having a portion which forms part of the mandrel body that is offset from the open bore of said mandrel body and is adajcent and above said valve receptacle;

2. said semi-circular body including sides extending toward the open body bore to define the front of said combination guard and guide;

3- said sides having upper ends, and each of said sides at their upper ends having an interior surface that is formed by sloping each side downwardly from its upper end and towards the center of the one portion which forms part of the mandrel body;

4. said sides having outer edges with each edge including a portion that slopes inwardly toward the center of the one portion that forms part of the mandrel body; and

5. said sloping interior side surfaces intersecting the sloping portions of said outer edges to define an opening in said guard and guide of a desired configuration to restrict access to said valve receptacle immediately therebelow. 

1. In a mandrel for use in a well tubing including: a. a body having an open bore extending therethrough for alignment with the well tubing; b. a valve receptacle formed in said mandrel body and offset from the open bore of said body; c. combination guard and guide means formed at the upper end of said valve receptacle and offset from the open bore of said body, said combination guard and guide including:
 1. a body of generally semicircular shape having a portion which forms part of the mandrel body that is offset from the open bore of said mandrel body and is adajcent and above said valve receptacle;
 2. said semi-circular body including sides extending toward the open body bore to define the front of said combination guard and guide;
 3. said sides having upper ends, and each of said sides at their upper ends having an interior surface that is formed by sloping each side downwardly from its upper end and towards the center of the one portion which forms part of the mandrel body;
 4. said sides having outer edges with each edge including a portion that slopes inwardly toward the center of the one portion that forms part of the mandrel body; and
 5. said sloping interior side surfaces intersecting the sloping portions of said outer edges to define an opening in said guard and guide of a desired configuration to restrict access to said valve receptacle immediately therebelow.
 2. said semi-circular body including sides extending toward the open body bore to define the front of said combination guard and guide;
 3. said sides having upper ends, and each of said sides at their upper ends having an interior surface that is formed by sloping each side downwardly from its upper end and towards the center of the one portion which forms part of the mandrel body;
 4. said sides having outer edges with each edge including a portion that slopes inwardly toward the center of the one portion that forms part of the mandrel body; and
 5. said sloping interior side surfaces intersecting the sloping portions of said outer edges to define an opening in said guard and guide of a desired configuration to restrict access to said valve receptacle immediately therebelow. 